Bangladesh “A” Vs India “A” Third ODI Played at Bangalore on September 20, 2015

India A 297/6 ( Suresh Raina 104 ,Sanju Samson 90, UBT Chand 41 , Shafiul 2/56) beat Bangladesh A 141/6 in 32 Overs ( Shabbir 41* , Mominul 37, S Aravind 2/14 ,Kuldeep Yadav 2/29) by 75 runs on D/L method.

Bangladesh “A“ was undone in the series deciding third match. They faltered and lost many tricks. A characteristic rollicking Suresh Raina flamboyant innings and later rain sunk an underperforming Bangladesh “A” team to an abject surrender in series decider of three matches ODI series to India “A”.

Batting first, India riding on Raina’s 104 and Samson’s  90 set up almost unassailable  target of 298 to chase for Bangladesh A. Spineless Bangladesh top order batting again melted down taking any contest out of context. Finally, when rain interfered after 32 overs Bangladesh was desperately struggling at 141/6.  India “A” won the series 2-1, winning the first ODI comfortably in a one sided affair.

Bangladesh turned the table in the second match principally through an extraordinary  solo all round effort of Nasir Hossain assisted by Rubel and Liton squaring the series 1-1. Much was expected from Bangladesh in the last match but little was delivered. Bangladesh was distinctly the second best in the two horses’ derby.

The first two matches gave a general impression for a keen tussle for supremacy in the final ODI, a mouthwatering contest. But a pathetic Bangladesh A failed to prove equal to their task and were complete mismatch with far superior Indian A. Bangladesh lacked temperament, skill and appeared not to have any batting plan while chasing a huge score. Winning and losing are part of play. But losing in such a manner always raises question about the class and competence, plans and strategies of the vanquished. There were lots at stake but very little was achieved.

Dominating the all-important final ODI all the way India A completely out classed Bangladesh A in the series decider final ODI winning it by a huge margin of  75 runs in rain affected encounter through D/L method. India batted brilliantly setting almost an unassailable of target of 298 for Bangladesh.

Suresh Raina the player of big occasion finally delivered with a brilliant strokeful 104 in 94 deliveries. Young Sanju Samson played yet another classy innings of 90. Responding to mammoth Indian score Bangladesh again started disastrously losing the first 3 wickets within the 10 th over.

Captain Mominul and ever-reliable Liton tried to retrieve the situation. But once they were undone and previous match hero Nasir also could not repeat his performance with the bat Shabbir’s solo effort could only reduce the margin of defeat. Bangladesh reached 141 /6 by 32 nd over when rain came; Bangladesh was 75 runs behind at that stage in Duckworth Lewis calculation. India A deservedly won the series 2-1.

 Bangladesh sent a team studded with national players’ .Only Saqlain Sajib of the 15-member squad was uncapped. In one sentence, if we sum up Bangladesh failed to live up to expectation as a team. There were individual brilliance. Nasir Hossain played exceedingly well. Liton Das was consistent. Rubel bowled well in the second match. But Soumya, Anamul, Rony miserably failed. Mominul, Shabbir had limited success. Bangladesh top order batted poorly in all three matches. Bowling was not consistent. There appeared to have no match planning, no well thought strategy.

We really did not find justifiable reasons for insisting with Rony Talukdar after his repeated failures with the bat .Why Subhagato was not given a go even in the last ODI? Why Jubair could not be tried when bowling apart from Nasir and Rubel was proving ineffective?  What was the point of sending Chief Selector (a controversial person) with the team as manager? He always proved to be a wrong strategist .He was some issues with head coach Haturusingha. Why head coach could not be sent?

India A rightly opted to bat after winning the toss. Shafiul and Al Amin bowled well in the first spell. Maynak Agarwal was removed early by Shafiul. India had a plan in mind and batted with patience, which Bangladesh should have taken lesson of. Skipper Chand and Samson slowly and steadily established them at the wicket playing each delivery according to merit.

Once their roots were firmly in they played strokes and laid a solid foundation of 82 runs second wicket partnership. Wicket had very little to offer to the bowlers.

At the departure of Chand the man of big occasion Suresh Raina joined Samson. He was due for his typical flamboyant innings. He did not start bang bang. Rather he took his time and set his eye in. The pair batted solidly and batted Bangladesh out of the game adding 106 priceless runs in the third wicket partnership.

Samson missed his century getting out at 90 but Raina went on .He only opened up when the team was safely anchored. His 104 was studded with 9 strikes across the fence and one over it. His 104 in 94 deliveries answered few questions of his critics. R Dhawan struck some meaty blows at the end to beef up team score to 297/6 by the 50 over quota.

Chasing a target of 298 for Bangladesh was always a tough ask. It required a cool-headed batting plan. We do not think Bangladesh think tank there headed by Manager Farukh Ahmed had any. The top order again made a mess of it. Soumya, Anamul and Rony were gone even before 10th over. Mominul and Liton tried to resurrect .But their efforts were not enough.

Liton could not repeat his heroics of the last two matches. Mominul got out after scoring 37. Nasir also failed to repeat his previous matches performances. Shabbir was looking good when rain dropped the curtain. Bangladesh was 141/6 after 32 overs. Shabbir was batting on 41 with the tail enders. Duckworth Lewis calculation evidenced that Bangladesh was 75 runs short at that stage.

There will be win or loss in any competition. It cannot be a big deal. But the nature and manner of some losses sometimes creates questions. What planning Bangladesh had for the three matches? The top order failed in batting in all matches.
Why same players were allowed to fail in the same manner? Did not the team have additional batsman to replace? Could not the batting order be rotated a bit? Why not Shubhagato given opportunity? Why not Saqlain Sajib or Jubair tried? It is not that these would have made huge change .But at least some works and thoughts` of team think thank could be visible.

What were the gains? Nasir ,Liton ,Mominul , Sabbir , Rubel had good match practice and` we hope the two three day matches will give opportunity for Bangladesh to have more useful match practices.

BDST: 0828 HRS, SEP 21, 2015
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